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Construction Industry Adds Jobs

The construction industry added 14,000 jobs nationwide in April, the second consecutive month of job growth for the industry, according to a new report by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America. The report released Thursday attributes the employment gains primarily to the growth in projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ken Simonson, chief economist for AGC, said the construction industry has added 40,000 nationally jobs since February, which followed more than three years of declines in construction employment, costing more than 2 million jobs. Despite the gains in construction employment this year, the industry’s national jobless rate was 21.8 percent in April, according to AGC.